Tie a Yellow Ribbon
by ncisaholic
Summary: Continues after Pay Up. Mac gets a call that changes everything for him and for Stella. Rated T but first chapter has nothing in it.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own CBS or CSI:NY or else Stella and Mac would be married by now and Jess would never have died! Spoilers: Pay Up**

Glass rained down and bullets whizzed by as Mac dove for the ground. As the shooting

stopped, Mac got up amid the screams and cries of the other people in the pub. Mac looked

around quickly, looking for her curly hair. "Stella!!!" _Where was she? Dear God, let her be_

_alright._ Mac thought. As he ran over to where he saw her last, he tripped over someone and

looked down. It was Danny, cradling Lindsay as she nursed her arm. Other than her arm

bleeding a little from the cuts of the glass, Lindsay looked fine. Mac continued to the last

place he had seen Stella. Looking around , he found her lying face down. He quickly

checked her and felt blood. Too much blood. Looking closer, he found a bullet hole in her

left side. Plugging it quickly he called out for an ambulance. Flack was slowly

getting up from where he had fallen. As he watched Mac work on Stella, he couldn't help but

flash back to when he had found Jess. _Not again_ he thought. _Please don't let another love_

_be ripped apart_. Medics rushed in and took over taking care of Stella. Mac stepped back and

let them have some room. They were able to get Stella stabilized and rushed her to the waiting

ambulance. Mac followed them quickly and jumped into the ambulance.

"I'm sorry sir, but are you family or something?" a young medic asked.

Mac jumped as if he had been electrocuted. "I'm sorry, what did you say? I wasn't paying

attention."

"Are you her family, sir?" The medic asked again.

"Um, she has no blood relations, I'm her partner."

"Alright sir, you can stay with her until we get to the hospital."

Mac leaned down and placed a small kiss on Stella's cheek. "Come on, Stella. You can make it.

You have to make it. We need you...I need you. Please Stel!"

Once they had reached the hospital, doctors and nurses rushed to the ambulance and started

shouting order and stats back and forth as they worked on Stella. Mac walked to the waiting

room as in a daze. He looked down and saw that his shirt was covered in blood. Her blood.

She had to make it. She had to be ok. She was the one that had held him together when

Clair had died and had slowly grown on him until he had fallen in love with her. They had

quietly been going out together since they had gotten back from Greece. To some, it might

look like their relationship was going fast. Just this week they had been talking

about getting married. Sure, they were joking around, but still. For Mac Taylor to be talking

about getting married was a big step. Both Mac and Stella agreed that they really didn't need

to date that long. As Stella put it, they had practically been dating for at least five of their ten

year partnership. Anyone in the lab could attest to that. Suddenly his phone rang and he quickly

answered. "Taylor. What! Are you sure. Alright, when? I'll be there. Bye." Mac hung up and

stared strait ahead. How could this be happening? Why was this happening to him now?

"Excuse me? Are you family of Stella Bonasera?" a voice cut through Mac's thoughts. He

looked up and saw the doctor standing there.

"Doctor, how is she?"

**Dun Dun Dun... Is Stella alive. Is she dead? And what was that mysterious phone call to **

**Mac about? Find out soon. To Be Continued...**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey! So sorry that it took soooooo long to get this written and posted! My professors seem to have a conspiracy going to keep me from writing this chapter. So now, without further ado, on with the show (story…whatever you want to call it)**

_"Excuse me? Are you family of Stella Bonasara?"_

_"Doctor, how is she?"_

Dr. Lews stepped out of surgery. It had been a grueling shift. He had seen more police officers in his ER then he wanted to see. He had lost a couple of them. He walked to the waiting room and asked the nurses where he could find anyone for Stella Bonasera. The nurse pointed to a young man, ok young to him, who was deep in thought and struggling to keep his composer.

"Excuse me? Are you family of Stella Bonasera?"

"How is she doctor?" the young man didn't waste any time in asking.

"She'll be fine. She lost a lot of blood and she came very close to loosing a lung. The bullet grazed her left lung but we were able to fix it. She made it through surgery and is recovering."

When Mac heard those words, he released the breath he didn't realize that he had been holding since the doctor had walked over to him. "Can I see her?"

"In a few minutes. She's being moved into recovery right now. A nurse will come and get you when you can go see her." The doctor walked away and Mac sat back down. Now that he knew that Stella was alright, he was impatient to see her. Just then, Danny, Lindsay, Sid, and Hawkes came rushing through the door.

"Hey Mac. How's Stella?" Danny asked.

"She lost a lot of blood and her left lung was grazed by the bullet but she made it through surgery and is in recovery. Where's Flack and Adam?" Mac was starting to get concerned. He had seen Flack stand up but was too busy trying to get the bleeding to stop to notice if Flack was hurt or not.

"They're both fine. Couple of scratches. Adam was pretty shaken so he decided to go home. Flack's still at the scene making sure that everyone does their job right". Mac nodded to Danny as a nurse came up.

"Sir, you can see her now." Mac looked at the other and Danny told him to go.

"Go on, Mac. No need to keep her waiting." Mac just nodded again and followed the nurse to a room. When he opened the door, Mac paled. Stella was in a bed that looked like it was ten sizes too big for her. Everything made her look small and fragile.

"Hey Mac. I'm hurt, not dead!" Stella's voice snapped Mac out of his thoughts and he hurried over to the bed.

"Hey, you know that you're supposed to duck, right?"

Stella smiled. "Well, maybe I just need lessons. I think that Marines make the best instructors." Mac smiled tightly.

"What? What's wrong?'

"Why would there be anything wrong. Other than the obvious?"

"Mac, I know when you're trying to avoid a conversation. So just tell me what's wrong."

It's…I've been recalled. To the Marines."

**So. What's gonna happen next? I'll try to update soon but you never know with my professors. Any ideas or comments greatly appreciated!**


	3. Chapter 3

**In formal protest against plans to introduce a love interest into Mac's life that is not Stella, I wrote this chapter, overcoming writer's block and professors. I unfortunately do not own CSI:NY or anything connected with it or else the only love interest for Mac would be Stella. Small warning: slight cussing**

"Mac? Mac Taylor, is that you?" Mac looked up from where he was eating.

"John! What are you doing here?"

"I should ask the same thing. What the hell are you doing in Afghanistan? I thought you had retired."

"No. I went into the reserve. They called me up about 3 months ago."

John shook his head "Well, I'm sorry you got dragged over here but I'm not sorry to be working with you again." The two of them got up and began to walk back to the sleeping quarters. "So, whatcha been doing with your life, Mac?" John asked.

"I moved to New York City shortly after going into the reserves. I'm now the head of the Crime Lab there."

"I'm impressed. How's Claire? I bet you two have a million kids by now." Mac grimaced "She was killed in the attacks on 9-11." John stopped and turned to Mac "Damn, Mac. I'm sorry."

"It's ok. I was a mess after Claire died. I probably wouldn't be here if it weren't for my partner, Stella."

John smiled "Got a pic?" Mac dug into his pocket to get his favorite picture of Stella. "Yep, but don't get your hopes up. She's married."

"All the good ones are taken." John said as he took the picture and then whistled. "She's pretty Mac! I'm surprised you didn't marry her" he teasingly said. "Who said I didn't?" Mac said as he started walking away. John stood there for a minute dumbstruck then ran to catch up with Mac. "So? Spill, Mac"

Mac sat down on a bench outside the sleeping quarters. "You're a bigger gossip then when I last saw you. Like I said, Stell and I are partners at the Lab. She helped me when Claire died." John cut in "And let me guess, you fell in love and got married."

"Not quite. Over time, I started to fall in love, but you know me, I was always too stubborn to admit anything. We worked together for 10 years without anything happening. It took Stella almost dying a second time and the call from the Corp to make me admit that I loved her." John interrupted again "And THEN you got married. Right?!?!" Mac chuckled "Yes. After she was released from the hospital, we went and got married."

"Taylor! Boyle! Colonel Garcia wants you in headquarters. Pronto!"

"Thanks Smithy" Mac said, nodding to the man as he got up.

Mac and John saluted the colonel as they walked into headquarters. "Sir, you wanted to see us?" Mac asked. "Yes. You just got your first assignment. You go tomorrow night. Boyle, you'll go as spotter."

Stella groaned as she flipped over to slam her hand on the alarm clock that was screaming at her it was time to get up. If there was one thing that Stella hated, it was getting up for the morning shift. She got out of bed and quickly got dressed and grabbed a cup of coffee as she ran out the door to work.

"Hawkes, any hits on the blood sample at the crime scene?" Stella asked as she walked into the lab. Since Mac had left for Afghanistan, Stella had been put in charge of the lab. "No DNA match, Stell, but I did find insulin in the blood. Our killer is diabetic."

"The victim's boyfriend is diabetic. Get Flack and bring the boyfriend in." Stella said as she started making her way down to Mac's office that she was using while he was gone. "On it. Oh, hey Stell."

"Yeah Hawkes?" Stella said, stopping. "Have you heard from Mac lately?" Hawkes asked.

Stella smiled a little. "I got an e-mail form him a couple of days ago. He's doing alright. Said he misses the lab and the team. Now, you have a suspect to bring in." Hawkes nodded and walked out while calling Flack.

That night, Stella was doing paperwork but she could feel herself starting to fall asleep. "It's only 11 pm. Must be something about this desk." she thought as she smiled, thinking about the times she had found Mac asleep at the very desk she was falling asleep at. The next thing she knew, someone was shaking her awake. "Stell. Come on Stella, wake up." Stella opened her eyes to see that the clock now read 3:18 am. and that Lindsay was leaning over her. "Lindsay, what are you still doing here?" Lindsay smiled. "I might ask the same of you. I just came back because Lucy forgot her blanket here and won't go to sleep without it." Stella smiled "That little girl has you two wrapped around her finger."

"Don't I know it. But seriously Stell. What are you still doing here?" Stella sighed "I can't sleep at night. I just lay there and worry about Mac. I know he can take care of himself but I just worry that he'll be shot or..." Lindsay crossed over to where Stella was sitting and gave her a hug. "It's ok. I know it's hard. I would be worried sick if Danny was over there. But remember, Mac has the best training and he has someone to come back to. He'll take every precaution to get home safely. You can count on that." Stella smiled "Thanks, Linds. I should get home. Mac promised to e-mail today or tomorrow" Stella went to stand up and had to sit back back down as a wave of dizziness hit her. "Stell, you ok?" Lindsay asked her. "Yeah, I think so. I just got dizzy. Must be more tired than I thought. A good nights sleep should do the trick." Stella said as she got up and walked out the door, turning out the lights. Later, in bed, Stella lay there, clutching Mac's pillow. It still smelled like him and it always calmed her down and made her feel safe. "I miss you so much Mac. Be safe and hurry back to me." Stella said as she fell asleep.

**So, what did you think? Go on, press that little button. You know you want to. Any suggestions or criticism welcome. Just no flaming, please.**


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